Aref Assaf, 2/10.2008




According to news reports, Congressman Dennis Kucinich was visited by representatives of Nancy Pelosi and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the right wing Israeli lobby. They told him that if he would drop his campaigns to impeach Cheney and Bush, they would guarantee his re-election to the House of Representatives.

Kucinich threw them out of his office.

On the Hill some call it being McKinney'd - the treatment of Green Party presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney received when she was in Congress. Twice, rather than protecting the incumbent, the Democrats put up well funded challengers against her. Now, it looks like Dennis Kucinich may be facing the same treatment in Cleveland.



What is being McKinney'd?

In August 2002, Alexander Cockburn wrote about the ordeal of Cynthia McKinney, the five-term US representative from Georgia's Fourth District, after she crossed AIPAC, which explains the derivation of the term, even though "being AIPACed" would probably be a more direct way to characterize what happened to her.



One less radical black voice in Congress. One less champion of labor. One less brave soul unafraid to jump the traces of political orthodoxy. Cynthia McKinney, five-term US rep from Georgia's Fourth District, was beaten in Tuesday's Democratic primary by Denise Majette, also black, a former judge, put in with the help of lots of money from American Jewish groups and by a hefty Republican cross-over in Georgia's open primary.

(snip)

Yet when a torrent of money from out of state American Jewish organizations smashed Earl Hilliard, first elected black congressperson in Alabama since Reconstruction, you could have heard a mouse cough. Hilliard had made the fatal error of calling for some measure of even-handedness in the Middle East. So he was targeted by AIPAC and the others. Down he went, defeated in the Democratic primary by Arthur Davis, a black lawyer who obediently sang for his supper of the topic of Israel.

Hilliard received support from Arab groups after supporting a Palestinian state, while his young opponent had the backing of pro-Israel groups.

Then it was McKinney's turn. A terrific liberal black congresswoman. Like Hilliard she wasn't cowed by the Israel right-or-wrong lobby and called for real debate on the Middle East. And she called for a real examination of the lead-up to 9/11. So the sky fell in on her.



McKinney lost and subsequently became a member of the Green Party. Still, it is unclear what Cockburn meant by "American Jewish money" or the "American Jewish groups" he claims helped take her down, as he is not naming names.

The story is nonetheless floating around the blogosphere at Indymedia and other blogs like New Jersey Impeach Groups, and End Injustice Now, which included a photo of Pelosi with an AIPAC representative, even though it is unclear if the AIPAC representative shown is the one who allegedly confronted Kucinich.


The Democratic leadership has insisted that impeachment was off the table since taking control of the House in 2006. Congressman Conyers, Chair of the Judiciary Committee, has even refused to investigate whether President Bush and Vice President Cheney have violated the law. But Kucinich pushed the issue. He introduced articles of impeachment against Cheney, then against Bush and he brought the issue up on the House floor. He pushed and pushed to try to make sure the president and vice president were not above the law.

On the campaign trail he didn't let Senator Clinton or Obama get away with campaign peace rhetoric in the Democratic primary while they voted war funding with no strings attached in the senate. He pointed out that their rhetoric was not consistent with their actions. He pushed the issue of all troops being removed; while Obama and Clinton parse their words carefully making it clear they will withdraw only some of the troops and neither promising a complete troop withdrawal even by 2012.

And he pierced the veil of campaign rhetoric of Democrats who call for "universal health care" but put forward plans that will enrich their donors in the private health insurance industry.

On issue after issue Kucinich pushed against the Democratic Party leadership - now, it seems he is paying a price.


Back home the issue of right wing Israeli lobby funding is becoming an issue. (His main opponent) put out a press release that urges Kucinich to refute a report in the People's Weekly World Newspaper that said the "Kucinich campaign charged" that (his) effort to unseat Kucinich was financed in large part from "a right-wing pro-Israel group."


From what can determine from this news, there is an allegation of Israel Lobby involvement in Kucinich's campaign for re-election, but no direct evidence. However, there is every reason to believe that it might be, and it goes far beyond Kucinich's impeachment effort in the House.

In September 2006, following Israel's invasions of Lebanon and Gaza, Kucinich paid a visit to Lebanon and the West Bank.

As it was reported,


Congressman Dennis Kucinich has recently returned from a fact finding mission to Lebanon and Israel and it is interesting to see the contrast of the damage done in the recent violence...



"Village after village was reduced to piles of rubble. We saw thousands of destroyed homes. We also saw bombed out hospitals, schools, factories, churches, mosques, fire stations, gas stations, cars, bridges, roads, water systems, electric systems, banana plantations, and lemon groves," Kucinich said.

"In several villages we stopped and walked through piles of concrete and dust from what had once been homes. Public areas were littered with unexploded cluster bombs and land mines. The smell of death was everywhere. Homes still standing upon closer inspection had holes in the walls from artillery shells."



After the Israelis suddenly canceled their flight from Beirut to Tel Aviv, Kucinich found a car to drive from Beirut, through Syria, Jordan and across the bridge into the West Bank.

The Kuciniches had hoped to visit the affected areas in northern Israel but were told by Israeli officials that there would not be much to see because repairs were almost completed.

After viewing the separation wall, Kucinch had a private meeting with 8 representatives from organizations doing work in Jerusalem....



After about 2 hours of dragging out maps of the division between east and west Jerusalem, the wall route, the settlements, the separation between Gaza and the rest of the West Bank, and other enlightening information, (Kucinich) finally stood up, spread his hands across the maps and said in a voice filled with disbelief,

This is diabolical!

Needless to say, we all agreed. For someone like Kucinich who has made some strong statements regarding the issue of Palestine and is currently working on getting a Department of Peace and Non-violence started at the Cabinet level (he already has over 60 other Congressional sign-ons), I was happy that he finally "got it", but not surprised that he was as uninformed as he seemed to be.





So while the question, Is Dennis Kucinich Getting McKinney'd, cannot be conclusively answered, there is every reason to believe that he is in AIPAC's sights as the next American politician who will suffer its wrath.